mortified
MOR-tuh-fyde
/ˈmɔːrtɪfaɪd/
Extremely embarrassed, ashamed, or humiliated.
Describes intense public embarrassment so strong that it feels as though one could die on the spot.
The story behind the word. Mortified stems from Late Latin 'mortificare', literally meaning 'to make dead'. Originally used in religious texts to mean subduing bodily desires ('mortifying the flesh'), its modern meaning shifted to feeling so embarrassed that you wish you could drop dead.
Word relationships
- humiliated: Humiliated highlights a loss of dignity inflicted by circumstances or others, while mortified captures the internal sensation of acute social embarrassment.
- unabashed: Unabashed means completely unembarrassed and confident despite potential social awkwardness.
Commonly confused with
- mordant: Mordant means biting or sarcastic in tone, whereas mortified means acutely embarrassed.
Word family
- mortify (verb): to cause someone to feel embarrassed or humiliated
- mortification (noun): great embarrassment or shame
Collocations
- mortified expression
- absolutely mortified
- mortified by the blunder
Idioms & expressions
- mortified to death
Example sentences
- "She was mortified when her microphone remained live during her private conversation." Public speaking mishap
Memory hook
MORTIFIED sounds like 'mortician'; you feel so embarrassed you want to die and call a mortician. Embarrassed to death.
When not to use
Do not use for quiet, private sorrow over moral failures; it is primarily about intense social embarrassment.
Fun facts
- In 14th-century medical English, 'mortified' described gangrenous tissue that had literally died, long before it meant social embarrassment.
Explore more words
indignity, ignominious, fiasco, petrified, opprobrium, infamous
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